Survey says...

My husband Dave and I found out the sex of our baby today!!!! Like I said in the last post, we weren’t all that sure if we wanted to find out if our little tyke was a boy or a girl, but after some careful consideration and some gentle pushing and encouragement from family and friends, we decided to go for it.

So as my favorite host of Family Feud Ray Combs would say, “Survey says,” we’re having a boy! :) 

Dave asked the doctor about the ultrasound if the picture was pretty accurate and the doctor said, “Yes, that’s a really good picture.” It made us both chuckle and what was even more funny was when the ultrasound technician was looking at the little guy’s parts before we spoke with the doctor. She was like, “Well, baby looks like a boy.” And then was like, “Oh yeah, baby’s a boy.” She said it with a big smile and it made me totally laugh out loud. She took a picture of the whole thing and on the picture, she even wrote “Boy” with an arrow pointed to his junk. Seriously, that’s what she did, but that’s not going to be posted on this blog because I don’t think it’s all too appropriate or something I want to have him see when he’s on the Internet when he’s like 15 or 16. Could you imagine that, him seeing the blog and saying, “Hey Mom, I found something you wrote about me before I was born,” and then be like, “You posted a picture of that. MOMMMM!”

Okay, I digress, but I had to because that picture is tooooo funny! Anyway, the best part of the whole ultrasound experience though was to find out from our doctor that the little guy is healthy and progressing nicely. He has all ten fingers and ten toes, a strong heartbeat, two kidneys, a liver, a stomach, a big noggin, a bladder, and lungs that we can’t really make out, but the ultrasound technician assured us that they’re there and just not visible yet. From that long list of things, I don’t think I’m missing anything, however, I’m pretty excited so forgive me if I did!

In five weeks we go back for another baby check-up and throughout the next five weeks, we get to do a lot of fun baby planning from how we should paint his room to what kind of furniture we should buy and so on and so forth. Here's a picture of something fun I already found online: 

Located at: http://www.greenevillegifts.com/baby/its_a_boy_baseball.htm,  Pretty cool!

I’m a big planner, so this is going to be fun and until next time, it’s Carla the tomboy signing off.  

Wicked cool.....

Generally, going to the doctor isn’t all that much fun. You have to go because you’re sick, hurting, or simply trying to figure out what might be wrong with you because you just don’t feel right.

However, I’ve found that it’s actually pretty interesting to go to the OBGYN when you’re pregnant. Why you ask? Well, sure there are those awkward moments when you’re like, “You’re going to do what?” Or you’re wondering in your head what exactly your doctor is talking about? So, you just nod your head and then go on the Internet later and research what he was talking about since you didn’t want to look stupid when he was talking to you. It’s probably happened to all of us in some doctor’s office at some point, right? I mean, who wants to look stupid? Not me!

Oh, and I’m using the pronoun he by the way because I have a male doctor.  I go to Aurora and he’s super chill and very easy to talk to, something I find to be very refreshing in a doctor as most I’ve dealt with in the past are the complete opposite.

Now, once you set those weird times aside while visiting the OBGYN, it can be pretty interesting and informative to go to those monthly baby check-ups. Take the one that Dave and I went to today for example. I wasn’t all that excited about going to my baby check-up appointment to begin with. It meant that I had to get up early to go to work early to make up the time that I was going to miss.  Then, I had to leave work, get there, wait for a bit in the waiting room, and finally meet with the doctor for a 20 minute or so appointment. It’s a process to say the least and can get a little old.

When we finally met with the doctor though, it was really, really worth it! Why, the reason being is we were able to hear our baby’s heartbeat! How freaking cool is that? You go in thinking that all that’s going to happen is your doctor is going to ask you questions about how you’re feeling with you telling him that you’re not feeling great. His reply is typically, “that’s normal,” and then the appointment’s over.

Well this time around, he busted out this machine, which is called a fetal Doppler monitor and yes I looked up what it was after the appointment since I didn’t want to ask and look stupid, that let us hear our baby! He located where my baby was nesting, right below my belly button, in about thirty seconds. 

A picture of the monitor the doctor used to listen to the baby's heartbeat.

After about a minute of hearing, “dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka, dunka,” the doctor said everything sounded good! It was an amazing moment and made me realize that it’s the little things in life that matter the most. Here I was all crabby about having to head off and rush to go to the appointment to begin with, yet when I got there, I was able to experience this wicked cool moment with my husband. Sweet!

During the question and answer portion of the appointment, my doctor did give me some helpful information when dealing with some of the things I’ve been dealing with. So, I guess that part of it wasn’t all that pointless as I made it out to be. For instance, I haven’t been sleeping well, so he suggested I take Benadryl before I go to bed. I’ve also had a cold for awhile and he said Sudafed is a good decongestant to take. I knew this one already, yet, it was nice to get some confirmation. Another thing he mentioned to do to stay regular, and yes this is gross, but I’m going to talk about it anyway given that it happens to a lot of pregnant women, is to take Fiber pills or Metamucil's along with a stool softener like Colace. This suggestion did make me feel like an old lady and kind of silly, however, if it helps I’m down to try it. One thing I’ve learned throughout the pregnancy is that if you need a little help with things, whether it be to use the lotion to fight dry skin or to use some fiber to feel better, do it because there’s no reason to feel uncomfortable. Before I would have just dealt with it, but now I’m all about making things easier on myself if help is available.

In another couple of weeks, we go back for our third ultrasound and another baby check-up. I’m actually looking forward to it! How crazy is that? I never would have thought I’d be excited about a seeing a doctor. There are decisions to be made before this one though, like, should we find out the sex of the baby? Hmmm, that’s a whole other blog post in and of itself. So until next time, it’s Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off! 

Just passed the 16 week mark...

I realize that I started my blog a little late in the pregnancy because last week, I just passed the 16 week mark so I’m officially in my second trimester. However, it’s one of those kind of deals where I was on the fence about starting a blog about being pregnant in the first place. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to share my story with the world, but I figured why not? I’m not harming anyone and I’m able to have something to look back on to remember what I went through.

With that said, let’s talk about the first trimester. It was an interesting ride to say the least. The morning sickness, the excitement and uneasiness about being pregnant, and the telling people that you’re pregnant was all awkward and a little overwhelming at times. I’m sure the typical woman really enjoys all the attention and the congratulations that come with it. For me, it was a mixture of emotions. I wanted to tell people, yet I didn’t want to tell people. Why? Who really knows? Maybe it was because that would mean I’m an actual woman who had to start acting like a woman. What do I mean by that you ask? Well, it was more of a mental thing than anything. Don’t get me wrong here, I always have looked at myself as a woman, but a woman who likes wearing baggy shorts, t-shirts, and athletic shoes. A woman who enjoys eating pizza, drinking beer, and watching football. A woman who goes running, cycling and plays softball with no fear who doesn’t care about putting on lotion to avoid stretch marks or conditioning her hair to prevent it from breaking off or taking vitamins to ensure she gets the right amount of nutrients in her body.  Or maybe I didn’t tell people because it was a fun little secret that my husband and I had and we only wanted to reveal our little surprise every now and again to see people’s reaction. Or maybe it was because I just didn’t want to deal with everyone else’s reaction. In any event, it was a slow process telling people and when I did, hearing the congratulations and getting all the attention was rather nice, so maybe I’m more of a woman that I thought?

Let’s get back to the first trimester and what it meant for me. I touched upon the morning sickness and guess what, it really hasn’t gone away like all the professionals said it would in the second trimester. So, eating has been a bit of an issue as of late and even taking the vitamins can be very annoying since they too make me feel sick to my stomach. The worst part of the day for me is in the afternoon, where I frequently run to the bathroom to get sick. Over share, yet this blog is about sharing, right? :)

Figuring out all the other stuff during the first trimester has been a bit of a chore to say the least and that’s where having to act like a woman comes into play. I never used lotion before until I really needed it. I never conditioned my hair on a regular basis. And, I never tried to eat completely healthy, well rounded meals with fruits and veggies and so on and so forth.  I never took vitamins and I worked out a bunch. Now, I own all sorts of lotions, body washes, moisturizers, shampoos and conditioners, vitamins and supplements, and routinely go to the store to buy oranges, bananas, juice, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, milk, low-fat proteins, Balance Bars, Fiber One bars, and all of it is extremely expensive.

Some of the girly items I recently purchased. WalMart is the cheapest place to buy this stuff!

I also have had to curtail my workouts and the last time I ran was the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. Changing my lifestyle has been a bit of a pain, but I know it’s for a good reason. I need to be healthy so my baby will grow healthy and strong. Kind of corny and cliché, yet it’s the truth. I, as every parent wants, a strong, healthy baby boy or girl. I can’t wait till I get to meet the little guy or gal in July.

Some first trimester highlights:

• First ultrasound where Dave, which is my husband’s name by the way, and I saw our baby’s heartbeat. Pretty cool!
• Learning that there was only one heartbeat given that having twins would be crazy. 
• Second ultrasound where we got to take home pictures of the baby, sure they were hard to make out, but cool anyway. 
• Getting the results of our genetic testing back and having the odds of having a healthy baby be in our favor. 
• Finding that plain cheeseburgers are a food I can eat without getting sick afterwards. Chocolate shakes are a good food source too.

Some first trimester downers:

• Not having a lot of food options since nothing really tasted good. 
• Raging hormones that resulted in horrible mood swings. 
• Morning sickness (obviously).
• Weird body changes. 
• Being tired all the time, but unable to sleep through the night.

All in all, the first semester went okay and I think I’m going to stop here for today. There is soooo much more that I would like to go into and I fear that I could write on and on. So until next time, it’s Carla the pregnant tomboy signing off!